On Monday 7 December, the MEPs on the European Parliament Committee on Agriculture reported mixed progress in negotiations between the EU institutions on the post-2020 reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The trilogues started in December and will continue in the first half of 2021 under the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the EU.
Peter Jahr (EPP, Germany), the European Parliament rapporteur on the strategic plans, stressed that imagination would need to be shown “if we want an agreement by the end of June next year” (see EUROPE 12605/18).
Creation of an expert group on the social dimension of conditionality seems to be acceptable to the negotiators. There will be a new trilogue in December on strategic plans; the rapporteur is hoping for progress on Annex III, which involves conditionality practices.
Ulrike Müller (Renew Europe, Germany) noted with regard to the ‘horizontal’ regulation that the Council of the EU requested a new governance structure at the first trilogue on 4 December. Some progress has been made with regard to financial management, but there remains a lot of work to do on the new delivery model. The Council of the EU is reported to have criticised the hybrid model requested by the European Parliament.
Eric Andrieu (S&D, France), the rapporteur on common market organisation (CMO), reported on progress at the first trilogue, which focused on wine (planting permits, alcohol-free wine, banned grape varieties). The positions taken by the European Parliament and the Council of the EU on these matters are quite similar (see EUROPE 12611/12).
The negotiators also agreed to introduce the concept of ‘sustainable development’ to geographical indications.
Andrieu finished by saying that discussions about crisis management measures will continue under the Portuguese Presidency. The next trilogue on the CMO will take place at the end of January 2021. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)